Gmail For Android Updated – Pinch To Zoom, Swipe Controls And More

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The Gmail app for Android has currently been updated by the developers. The new update has brought a host of brand new features for the users based on the Android platform.

The Gmail app update that has currently gone live delivers different functionalities, and one of them is the new pinch to zoom feature. Pinch-to-zoom works just like it does in a web browser, letting users quickly zoom in on parts of an email to take a closer look.

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Now this may not seem like a big deal to users who are already using large screens on their smartphones or tablets, but anyone using a smaller handset, or have certain viewing problems (like old folks), this feature could be well useful. Likewise, the app now automatically scales messages to fit the phone’s screen.

“Today we released version 4.2.1 of the Gmail app for Android, making it easier to both view and read your messages,” the official Google+ page states. “No longer will your favorite email newsletters get cut off at the edges; with this latest version, you can now choose to have the emails resized to fit neatly on your screen and pinch to zoom for a closer look. You can turn on auto-fit under Settings > General Settings.”

However, these aren’t the only new additions to the app. Gmail now also has the ability to swipe messages out of the app’s mailboxes. It works in the same way as users dismiss notifications in ICS, and users can also customize exactly what should happen to a message that they swipe away in such a manner, either archiving it or deleting it completely.

“When you open a message with photo attachments, you’ll see thumbnails of each picture. Tap on a picture to go to a gallery where you can easily swipe through all the photos. And speaking of attachments, you can now attach videos that you've taken on your phone,” the page also adds.

This is a major development for the app after it was reported in October that Google was actually planning to push out a host of updates for the Gmail on Android. The swipe action along with pinch to zoom, at that time, were stated as future probabilities.